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90 min +3: Soteldo, who has been lively since coming on, crosses from the right for Keno, who eyebrows harmlessly wide left from six yards. Chance.
90 min +2: Canobbio has a whack from distance, towards the bottom right, but it’s easy pickings for Sanchez. “Sigh. This result is just going to encourage the Giannis. Infantino, and Terry.” Peter Oh, ladies and gentlemen. He’s here all week. Try the cooling beverages.
90 min +1: The first of six added minutes passes by.
90 min: Cucurella wins another challenge in the centre circle and sends Palmer flying down the middle. Palmer opens his body and tries to pass into the bottom left, but his shot is blocked.
89 min: Canobbio clips Santos from behind. There’s not much in it, but Santos makes a meal of it in the time-management style. The clock continues to tick on.
88 min: Chelsea seem happy enough to sit back and hold their shape. Flu are struggling to move them about. There’s no way through. The clock ticks on.
86 min: Dewsbury-Hall and Santos come on for Nkunku and Fernandez.
85 min: The corner’s hit long by Soteldo. For the first time tonight, Chelsea look a bit nervous at the back. Silva heads goalwards. He hits his own man Ignacio. Chelsea benefit from a hand-ball call, even though Silva’s headed into his mate’s chest.
84 min: Soteldo dribbles crisply down the right and stands one up for Everaldo that Tosin is forced to turn behind for a corner. Soteldo sends the set piece in himself. Chalobah half clears. The ball’s worked to the other flank, where Arias wins another corner. Flu need to score here surely.
83 min: Chelsea play it out from the back, through the Flu press. Nkunku enters the box from the right but can’t hook goalwards. Chelsea hunting in packs, looking for the third goal that would totally put this game to bed.
81 min: Jackson steals the ball off Arias on the left-hand corner of the Flu penalty box. He advances on goal, and tries to beat Fabio at the near post. Side netting. Palmer, clear in the middle, waiting for a square ball to tap in, kicks the post in frustration before telling his team-mate exactly how he sees it. Palmer is fuming. Smoke pouring from the lugs. Not so cold right now.
Cole Palmer is absolutely livid with Nicolas Jackson. Photograph: Kai Pfaffenbach/Reuters
79 min: Arias has been very quiet tonight. He tries a quick one-two with Rene down the inside-left channel but James is wise to what’s going on and intercepts.
78 min: The game restarts. Chelsea so close to the final. It’s now or never for Fluminense.
76 min: Cooling break! Get your ice-cold bevvies over here!
75 min: Cucurella steals the ball in the midfield and reaches the edge of the box on the left. He crosses, hoping to find Madueke in the middle, but Silva gets in the road to flick clear. Big gaps at the back for Flu now, as they chase the game. No point in going back home wondering.
73 min: … and so here’s a yellow for Sanchez, who takes his sweet time over a restart.
72 min: Cucurella grapples Soteldo from behind and is given a slap in the mouth for his trouble. Soteldo goes into the book. The referee finally warming up that yellow card.
71 min: The new boys combine. Canobbio swerves his way down the right and from the byline cuts back for Lima, who goes for the top right – hey, it’s worked for Chelsea – but sends his shot high and wide.
70 min: Another double Flu change. Canobbio and Lima come on for Bernal and Hercules.
68 min: Chelsea are making changes with the final in mind. Neto and Gusto make way for Madueke and club-captain James. “My excitement at an excellent João Pedro debut is somewhat tempered by the fear that Maresca will have coached all the fun out of him by Christmas,” writes Nathan Brown, staring into his half-empty glass. “‘Yes, you could have lashed one in off the bar there. But what if you turned back and recycled the ball instead?’”
Recycling possession is the reason why we all love football. Photograph: Marvin Ibo Guengoer/GES Sportfoto/Getty Images
67 min: Now it’s Gusto’s time to go for the top-right corner. He sends a dipping shot inches wide of the post. Had that been on target, Fabio wasn’t getting there.
66 min: Fluminense make another swap, replacing the booked Nonato with Soteldo.
65 min: Chelsea are getting closer and closer to a third. Palmer sashays down the right and switches play for Nkunku, who is denied by Silva’s block on the line. “Though Elis Regina’s most closely connected with Fluminense, she grew up a fan of Grêmio,” explains Kári Tulinius. “However, after moving to Rio de Janeiro, she fell in with a group of Fluminense supporters and became a fixture in the crowd at games. However, later in life, after moving to São Paulo, she started supporting Corinthians. But Fluminense fans will always have her song Bom Tempo, where she sings about her love for the team.”
63 min: Nkunku tries for a third Chelsea goal into the top-right corner. His effort is deflected wide of the post for a corner. Nothing comes of it.
Christopher Nkunku goes for goal. Photograph: Brian Snyder/Reuters
62 min: Keno drives down the left before flaying a speculative shot wide left of goal. Up the other end, Jackson attempts to make his presence felt immediately, but skittles Ignacio as he chases a long pass down the left.
60 min: The two-goal hero Joao Pedro has done his job, and makes way for Jackson.
58 min: Nonato, full of frustration, barges Pedro in the small of his back. He’s finally forced the referee to draw his yellow card from his pocket.
Keno has a scuffed shot blocked on the edge of the box. Chelsea go straight up the other end, and double their lead! The new boy Pedro, previously of Flu, drives down the inside-left channel, released by Fernandez, cuts infield, opens his body, and sends a rising rocket towards the top right, off the underside of the bar, and in! He apologises to his old club again. What a full debut this is! Two pearlers!
Joao Pedro scores a rocket! Photograph: Agustín Marcarian/Reuters
55 min: Flu make a double change, replacing Santos and Cano with Everaldo and Keno. And Everaldo is immediately into the thick of the action, driving down the left and stinging Sanchez’s palms with a low drive. The keeper parries.
53 min: … and Cucurella kind-of proves that point by advancing down the left and flashing a low diagonal drive inches wide of the right-hand stick.
52 min: Chelsea continue to probe. Flu hold their shape. For now. But not sure the Brazilians can keep doing this for too long.
50 min: Some head tennis in the Flu box forces Guga to knock behind for a corner. Nothing comes of the set piece but Chelsea have been on the front foot since the restart.
49 min: A little bit of space for Palmer down the left flank. He cuts back to Caicedo, who larrups a speculative effort halfway to NYC. Fabio had it covered.
47 min: Chelsea start the half with some sterile domination.
Fluminense get the second half started. Their captain Thiago Silva, erstwhile of Chelsea, spent the time after the half-time whistle, and the time before the second-half restart, in deep conversation with referee Francois Letexier, no doubt regarding the overturned penalty. Anyway, off we go. No changes.
Thiago Silva gestures as the second half gets underway. Photograph: Juan Mabromata/AFP/Getty Images
Half-time entertainment. Turns out both Elis and Tom were Flu fans.
Chelsea deserve their lead; they’ve been much the better side. And yet Fluminense have had an effort cleared off the line, and a penalty overturned. So while Chelsea have one foot in Sunday’s final against either PSG or Real Madrid, this is far from done and dusted. More soon!
45 min +4: Cano spins Caicedo in the centre circle and is hauled back by the Chelsea man. Again, no card. This referee is well laissez-faire. When play restarts, Ignacio tries to beat Sanchez from just inside the Chelsea half. Nope!
45 min +2: Neto’s corner comes in from the left. Tosin flicks on to Nkunku, who flaps a weak header wide right. A good chance.
45 min +1: Fernandez flicks Neto into acres of space down the left. But Neto hesitates a little upon entering the box, and a combination of Ignacio and Silva blocks the path to goal. Neto is forced to settle for a corner he’ll take himself.
45 min: Guga whips a low cross in from the right. Hercules traps, eight yards out, but can’t adjust his body to get a shot away, and Cucurella steals off with the ball. A close call for Chelsea there. Five additional first-half minutes coming up.
43 min: A bit of space for Pedro down the right. But he’s offside. Eventually the flag goes up. Everyone seems to be waiting for the whistle to end the first half, because naff all else is going on.
41 min: Neto picks the sprawling Guga’s pocket and sashays down the left with great elegance, winning a corner. Neto takes it himself, and Fabio claims it confidently.
39 min: That’s a big decision, and probably the judgement that should have been made in the first instance. But given the referee had made his on-field decision with great certainty, it’s a wee bit surprising he’s overturned it, because you could at least make a reasonable case for Chalobah’s arm being too far from his torso. You can see why Flu are fuming, but Chelsea won’t care, and nor should they. The baroque logic of VAR, there, for your leisure and pleasure.
37 min: It’s decided Chalobah’s arm was in “a natural position” after all! Chelsea celebrate, Flu frown, and play will restart with a drop ball. Chelsea clear it.
Francois Letexier checks the VAR screen before overturning the penalty. Photograph: Kai Pfaffenbach/Reuters
36 min: However, the VAR ushers the referee over to the monitor. Was Chalobah trying to draw his arm back into his body? Maybe this will be overturned after all!
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